Suu Kyi’s speech exposes her insincerity

A UAE newspaper has said that there was global anticipation that Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi would speak from her heart, be truthful and announce a slew of measures to alleviate the suffering of the most persecuted people, the Rohingya.

"Unfortunately, what came out in her first national address over the Rakhine violence that has seen over 415,000 Rohingya Muslims flee into Bangladesh was an incredible mix of lies and lip service that exposed her insincerity," said The Gulf Today in an editorial on Wednesday.

The paper continued, "If at all anything, the speech proved that either she was totally out of touch with reality or was deliberately blind to the realities of what her military was up to.

"While vaguely pledging to hold human rights violators to account over the Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi refused to blame Myanmar’s army, nor did she offer any clear solutions to halt what the UN calls army-led ethnic cleansing in Rakhine state, where soldiers are accused of burning Rohingya out of their homes.

"Amnesty International has correctly blamed Suu Kyi for "burying her head in the sand" over documented army abuses and claims of rape, murder and the systematic clearing of scores of villages.

"The splattering of lies in her speech was too evident. Suu Kyi insisted that army "clearance operations" finished on 5th September, but AFP reporters have gone on record to state that they had seen homes on fire in the days since then, while multiple testimonies from refugees arriving in Bangladesh also suggest that those operations have continued.

"The government says that around 170 Rohingya villages have been razed, but rights groups are using satellite evidence to show that the damage is more widespread.

"Compounding the problems, Rakhine remains in lockdown and the government has refused to issue visas for UN investigators, leaving independent verification impossible.

"While the world has been watching deadly images of tormented Rohingya for weeks, it is appalling to hear Suu Kyi say that Rakhine was not a state in flames.

"Suu Kyi claims to have opened the door to repatriation of Rohingya refugees, but she has failed to state convincingly how all of those who have fled burning villages could return to the violence-roiled region.

"Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent resistance to the military junta. There were high expectations that she would acknowledge the realities on the ground and announce effective remedial peace measures. Such hopes have been belied.

"Her silence on the army’s role in the violence is deafening," concluded the Sharjah-based daily.